How to process NCDB Orders

When making an NCDB order, Card Issuer user starts a new order and adds items into it. After that, the order goes to the hands of ER (Exclusive Representative), there it waits for photo processing (adding photos, editing photos, format check). With all photos checked, the ER passes the order on to the relevant Personalisation Center by marking the order as ready for processing. Orders which don’t include requests which must be handled exclusively by a Personalisation Center are processed directly by the ER user. In case of discrepancies of any kind, ER user can send the order back to Card Issuer for additional information. When the order is ready, ER user sends it to Personalization Center. Personalization Center prints cards and prepares them for shipment. The last step is invoicing of the order. Shipment and invoicing are usually unique for each country and are not part of this tutorial. Basic workflow is visualized in the following image.

Open

First of all you need to have an issuer that can issue cards through NCDB Orders. Let’s create one! New Card Issuers can be set up in NCDB -> Card Issuers -> Issuer List -> Add card issuer button.

Open

When creating new Card Issuer, all mandatory fields (address etc.) have to be filled. Besides that, it is necessary to select some checkboxes to allow the Card Issuer to make cards. These checkboxes are listed below and they are also marked in the picture.

To be able to make NCDB orders, your new Card Issuer has to be activated (checkbox “Active” has to be selected) and for allowing NCDB, make sure that checkbox “NCDB issuing” is also ticked. Further, in “Roles” window, choose the right role for your Card Issuer. According to the Role (or Roles – more of them could be chosen), different types of cards will be offered when making an order. Role “Agent” means, that this Card Issuer will be able to issue cards also for different Academic institutions beside his own (issuers Online Ordering and Card Issuing). When the profile is set up, don’t forget to click on “Save card issuer” button (at the top of the page).

For a “standard” NCDB order”, go to Orders -> Order List and click the “New Order” button. In the step that appears, write first letters of the Card Issuer for which you want to make the order. After putting down first letters, you’ll get a drop down menu with possible Card Issuers’ names. You will see this step, only if you are logged in as ER user (if you are logged in as user of Card Issuer, you don’t need to choose the Card Issuer, so this step is skipped).

You can also name the order, but it is not mandatory. In case you leave this field blank, the application chooses an automated name for the order (based on its number in the row of orders). At this moment, the order was created and now it’s time to put some items into it. Even if you leave the order empty for now, you can return to it later and continue with adding some order entries (all orders can be found in Orders -> Order List; to add entries, there is a button “Add Entries” at the top of the page in chosen card order detail). In this state, it is also possible to cancel the order.

In next step, choose the type of request that you want to make. You can choose the request either manually, or you can make it as a bulk import using an excel file (see later in this course). For now, let’s say that you want to order a new ISIC card for your student. To do this, select “Order new card” option.

In next step, choose the type of request that you want to make. You can choose the request either manually, or you can make it as a bulk import using an excel file (see later in this course). For now, let’s say that you want to order a new ISIC card for your student. To do this, select “Order new card” option.

Next step gives you the possibility of choosing card type.

After choosing the card type, you’ll be asked to define the Card Holder. You can either choose an existing Card Holder (who doesn’t have valid card at the moment), or you can create quite new Card Holder.

If you want to choose an existing Card Holder, the system offers you (in the next step) the list of all Card Holders. The cardholders can be added using the green “plus” button and removed using the red “minus” button. When all Card Holders are added, click “Add selected entries” button.

If you want to select a person who is not in the database, choose “Create a new card holder” option. Into new Card Holder’s profile, fill all mandatory information (marked with red asterisk) and upload a photo in .jpg format. It is also possible to leave the photo blank and upload it afterwards. If you are sure that the photo is already in proper format, select the checkbox “Photo has proper format”.

Great possibility is to make the order using the bulk import. This can be an advantage for schools or universities that want to make order for tens or hundreds of students at the same time and adding students one by one (as described in the previous section) would be extremely time-consuming. To do the import this way, at the beginning of the “New Order Wizard”, choose “Import order from XLS(X) file” (see the picture below).

After choosing this possibility, you’ll be redirected to a window for upload (see the picture below). There, you can upload an excel file with the request and (optionally) photos of Card Holders.

Before importing the excel file, it is a good idea to have a look at the detailed information hidden under the question mark icon in the top right corner. Under this icon, you will find detailed help about the format of the excel file and you can download the sample import file. Downloading this sample file and putting your own data into it is probably the easiest way how to avoid errors while uploading. Very important is the column called “Request Type”, where the type of the item you want to order is defined. Some values for this field are listed below, for description in more detail, please see the help under the described question mark. Request type:

Once the items are successfully added to the order, it can be send into production. To do this, there is button called “Send Order” in the top left corner.

After this action, there are more ways how the order is processed. These ways depend on the form of the card (virtual card/plastic card) and on the set-up of Card Issuer.

If the Card Issuer has “Self-service” enabled in its profile and the order is for virtual cards only, the order gets smoothly to next steps, without any action. Under “Process order” button, only “Mark as accounted” should be clicked.

If the Card Issuer doesn’t have this possibility allowed, but the order is virtual card only, it is necessary to press “Process Order” button (see picture below). In the window that appears, click “Prepare for processing” button.

If the card (or cards) is virtual and plastic and “Self-service“ is enabled, after clicking “Send Order”, the virtual card is issued smoothly and the order for the plastic card is sent directly to Personalization Center where it can be further processed.

If the card (or cards) is virtual and plastic and “Self-service“ is disabled, it is necessary to press “Process Order” buttton (see picture below). In the window that appears, click “Prepare for processing” button. At this moment, virtual card already exists and the order for the plastic card is sent directly to Personalization Center.

If something is not correct about the Card Order, you can “Sent it back to issuer” and optionally, you can also check “Send e-mail notification”. Doing this, the order gets to the “Draft” state again and it can be edited.

When you press this button, you can choose what is the purpose for splitting. Based on which you choose, the order will be splitted in two parts. There are more reasons why you want/need to split orders:

Separate items with missing photos (only order items with photos will be sent to production)

Separate items with unadjusted photos (only order items with photos checked as “Adjusted” will be sent to production)

Separate validity extensions

Separate items, which could not be sent for printing yet

Alternatively, it is possible to process your orders in Orders -> Order Processing (instead of pressing “Process Order” button as described above. It is possible to perform all tasks of order processing described above, including export of unadjusted photos and then import of adjusted photos and sending orders to selected Personalization Centers. This way is better for big schools with many orders, which, this way, can be processed together. On this page, there are also features that support inviocing and expedition.

Once the order is completed and prepared for processing, it is sent to Personalization Center. Personalization Center is the place where plastic cards are printed (either via card printer and software such as CardPress or via Batch Card Printing – directly from NCDB). Users of Personalization Center have their own credentials and after logging in, they see special GUI. Description of how Personalization Centers print cards is out of the scope of this course and the process of Batch card printing can be found in our course called „Batch card printing“.